On October 18, U.S. District Court Judge Leigh Martin May refused Georgia’s request to stay her opinion, setting new, easier ballot access procedures for all independent candidates, and all nominees of unqualified parties, for U.S. House, legislature, and partisan county office. Cowen v Raffensperger, n.d., 1:17cv-4660. Here is the six-page order.
The relief ordered by Judge May is not easy; it means collecting signatures of 1% of the number of registered voters in the district, and paying a fee of 3% of the office’s annual salary. But it is certainly better than the statute, which requires 5% petitions.
It is likely that the state will now ask the 11th circuit for a stay, but that won’t be easy to get, because, as Judge May’s order says, the 11th circuit already had this case once and was more favorable toward the plaintiffs than she had been initially. She had first denied any relief, but then the 11th circuit had remanded the case and instructed her to depend more on the evidence and less on the 1971 unfavorable precedent Jenness v Fortson.